Pb assembly witnesses noisy scenes for few mins as Akalis seek voting on motion to adjourn House

A one-day special session of the Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed noisy scenes for a brief period after opposition SAD sought voting on a motion to adjourn the House sine die.

The state assembly on Friday held a special session to commemorate the 400th 'Parkash Purab' (birth anniversary) of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

When the House proceedings resumed after the conclusion of the commemoration event, a motion to adjourn the assembly sine die, besides two items, including a first report of the business advisory committee, was taken up.

After Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra moved a motion seeking adjournment of the House sine die, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia stood up and demanded a voting on the same while referring to alleged division among Congress legislators.

It led to noisy scenes in the House as the Congress MLAs also retaliated. Amid the din, the House was adjourned sine die.

Later talking to the media outside the assembly, Majithia claimed that the Congress was divided into two groups and the four ministers had no faith in Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

With the division of votes, it would have come to know how many legislators were with the Navjot Singh Sidhu camp and how many stood with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

In a statement later, Majithia said had Sidhu, ministers and legislators associated with him been serious about raising the issues of people, they would have opposed the motion which would have resulted in extension of the session.

He claimed the Congress party's refusal to extend the session to discuss the burning issues of the state proved that neither Sidhu, nor Amarinder Singh were serious about Punjab or its problems.

''In fact, it seems they are playing a fixed match and running away from facing the people,'' he alleged.

Amid the ongoing power tussle between the camps of Sidhu and Amarinder Singh, a whip had been issued, asking party MLAs to remain present in the House for the one-day special session of the Punjab Assembly.

Sidhu, who has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, on August 30 had sought an extension of the session.

Meanwhile, talking to the reporters, AAP MLA and Leader of the Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema demanded that at least a 15-day-long assembly session be convened to discuss the burning issues of the state.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)